Double Bean burger with Walnuts

This is a scrumptious burger recipe  we came up with, over the weekend, and it was one of those burgers where you didn’t miss the bun or the trimmings or anything because it was great on its own and the avocado harissa just kicked it up a few notches. The avocado Harissa is adapted from another blog http://www.cookieandkate.com and is the best thing since fresh avocado :). No really, its finger-licking good.

Double Bean Burger with Walnuts served with Avocado Harissa

Ingredients

(makes 5 medium size burger patties)

1 can chickpeas drained and rinsed

1 can green lentils drained and rinsed

1 onion finely chopped

3 cloves garlic finely chopped

1 cup coriander finely chopped

8-10 walnuts crushed coarsely

1 cup almond flour

1 carrot grated

1 tbsp chilli powder

1 tbsp cumin powder

1 tbsp tomato paste

Salt to taste

1 egg – beaten

2-3 tbsp breadcrumbs to coat the patties

Olive oil to cook Burgers

For the Avocado Harissa

1 ripe avo

1 handful coriander

1 handful dill/mint/parsley

2-3 pickled jalapenos

2 tbsp lemon juice

Salt to taste

1 tbsp olive oil

 

 

 

 

 

 

• Start off by adding all harissa ingredients to the blender and blending until smooth. Taste for seasoning and set aside
• In a mixing bowl add the chickpeas and green lentils and mash until well combined.
• Add walnuts,almond flour,grated carrots and chopped coriander and mix well.
• In a pan, heat a bit of oil and brown off the onions and garlic with chilli powder,cumin powder and salt.
• Add tomato paste and cook until raw smell of tomato paste disappears ( 1-2 tbsp of water can be added at this stage if t starts sticking to the pan)
• Add the onion – tomato mixture to the prepared bean mixture and combine well
• Just before cooking the burgers add the egg to the burger mixture and incorporate into the mixture
• Take 1 cup of mixture to form one burger patty.
• Heat oil in a pan and, coat the burger with breadcrumbs and pan fry them until well cooked on both sides.
• Serve with Avocado Harissa

Notes:

1. You can omit the egg and use any other binding agent of your choice (potato,flour etc)
2. You can bake off the burger patties if you prefer not to pan fry them
3. This can be made as a nut free burger as well
4. Excess can be frozen for later use

 

 

Sweet potato and Black Bean Salad

I have recently started a “Transformation Programme” at the gym and have been supplied with many interesting,healthy,high-in-all-the-good-stuff recipes. This one is from that and is an absolutely scrumptious salad. My trainer is definitely going to be happy to hear that, because i complained to him that the others don’t have enough “oomph” :p… Anyway I am making a sincere attempt over the next two months to eat according to the plan as I kickstart this programme. Wish me luck! All recipes in this nutrition plan are given to me in 1 serving quantities (smart man , my trainer)

Sweet Potato and Black Bean Salad

Ingredients

(1 serving)

1 medium sweet potato (I only buy and use the white kind) -cut into chunks

1/2 can of black beans

5-7 cherry tomatoes (sliced or left whole)

1.5 tbsp tahini

Juice of 1 lemon

handful of finely chopped coriander

1 clove garlic minced

Salt and Pepper to taste

1 tsp chilli flakes

1 tbsp olive oil

0.6 cup almond milk

To Salad

Roast Sweet potato in oven – tossed in a bit of olive oil,salt and pepper  (at 180 degrees for 30 mins)

Make the dressing by combining  almond milk, remaining olive oil,tahini,garlic,lemon juice,salt,pepper and chilli flakes

Toss sweet potato,black beans,cherry tomatoes and coriander in the dressing until it coats the salad evenly.

Serve immediately.

 

 

 

Zucchini Soup

 

Zucchini Soup

I was gifted a book on my recent trip to Chennai called The Bangala Table. Its a collection of recipes from The Bangala in Chettinad. I was told by Mrs Alagu Muthu that their soup section is especially good and since the husband and daughter love soup I decided to try a recipe out despite it being Dubai’s vacation on the SUN this month. Its a very simple soup and it was ready in about 20 minutes so perfect for quick dinner.

Ingredients

(2 servings)

1 large Zucchini – cut into chunks

1 large onion –  roughly cut

1 clove garlic – minced

1 tbsp butter

Salt and Pepper to taste

Water as needed

 

To Soup

Start by melting butter in a large pot.

Once butter is heated add garlic and onion and saute until translucent .

Add Zucchini and saute until zucchini begins to soften.

Add water until it just covers the veggies and bring to a boil

Boil covered for 6-8 minutes until zucchini is cooked properly

Cool the mixture sufficiently before transferring to a blender and its done.

Add salt and pepper and heat before serving. That simple 🙂

Serve hot

 

Barley and Red Bean Burgers

I am back after a hiatus of almost 2 years. A lot has happened in these two years. Our family is now complete with the birth of our second little girl and we are on a new adventure in Dubai,UAE. The thing I love most about this city is the variety and quality of food available. It is quite the paradise for foodies like me. Not to mention the availability of ingredients. You get anything and everything needed for Indian, particularly South Indian cooking which is refreshing after living in Cape Town, where Indian ingredients were few and far between. I hope to write more often with some new and interesting recipes and some good old traditional ones as well. Today’s recipe is a burger  I threw together this week and it turned out to be very tasty,nutritious and healthy.

Barley and Red Bean Burgers with Guacamole

Barley and Red Bean Burger

2 cups cooked barley

1 can rinsed red/kidney beans (you can definitely try this with black beans as well)

1 capsicum finely chopped

1 onion finely chopped

2 cloves garlic finely chopped

8-10 button mushrooms finely chopped

1 tsp cumin powder

1 tsp chilli powder

1 tsp pepper

Salt to taste

1 tbsp olive oil

Oil to pan fry burgers

1 cup breadcrumbs – to coat and pan fry the burgers

 Guacamole

2 ripe avocados

1 onion minced

1 clove garlic minced

1/3rd cup coriander chopped finely

salt to taste

1 tsp cumin powder

1 tsp red chilli powder

1 tbsp lemon juice

For the Burgers:

Combine cooked barley and red beans in a mixing bowl and mash together

Start by adding oil to a hot pan and immediately add the garlic, onions and capsicum and saute until well cooked, add the mushroom as well and saute until the mushroom has cooked.

You can then add the chilli and cumin powder and salt to taste and saute until well combined

Once this mixture cools add it to the barley and red bean mixture and until the flavours incorporate and set aside

Make patties and set aside

Just as you need to make the burgers heat oil in a shallow pan, coat the burgers in breadcrumbs and pan fry until crispy on the outside

For the guacamole

The best guacamoles I have eaten have been pounded together using a mortar and pestle so this is the only way I make my guacamole nowadays.

Add chopped avocado,onion,garlic,cumin powder,chilli powder and salt and pound away until well combined. Add freshly chopped coriander leaves and mix together. Top it off with some freshly squeezed lemon juice and chill until you are ready to serve.

Note: Next time,I might add an egg or a boiled potato to the recipe as a holding agent to hold my burgers in better shape, as the shape wasn’t consistent this time around.

 

 

 

Sweet Lemon Rolls

Sweet Lemon rolls – these perfectly sweet yet tangy rolls are from Sally’s Baking Addiction and make lovely breakfast rolls or the perfect accompaniment at tea/coffee time. They are super easy to make following her quick rise dough which is the same dough we used for the Cinnamon Rolls. I tend to bake a lot more these days as it seems to also serve as a good activity with my dear daughter. What more fun than dumping things into large bowls,pouring liquids and mixing while making a good old fashioned mess while we are at it! She loves it and it allows me to indulge in something I have a deep passion for, So here are my sweet lemon rolls

ROLLS

• 2 and 3/4 cups flour
• 3 Tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 package instant yeast (1 packet = 2 and 1/4 teaspoons)
• 1/2 cup  water
• 1/4 cup milk (I used low fat)
• 2 and 1/2 Tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 large egg

FILLING

• 1/4 cup (60g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
• 3/4 cup (150g) granulated sugar
• zest of 2 medium lemons
• seeds scraped from 1/2 of a vanilla bean (or 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract)

GLAZE

• 1 cup low fat cream cheese, softened to room temperature
• 1 cup  confectioners’ sugar
• juice of two medium lemons
• extra lemon zest for garnish, optional

Preparation:

• Measure and set aside 1/2 cup of flour. In a large bowl, toss the 2 and 1/4 cups flour, the sugar, salt, and yeast together.
• Heat the water, milk, and butter on the stove until the butter is melted and the mixture is hot to touch.
• With the mixer setting at 1 , add flour to the mixer bowl and run it to incorporate all dry ingredients together once again. Gently pour the butter mixture into the flour mixture. Add the egg and  the remaining flour and beat on setting 2 to make a soft dough.
• On a lightly floured surface, knead the dough for about 3-4 minutes. Place in a lightly greased bowl and let rest for about 10 minutes.
• Meanwhile make the filling
•  After 10 minutes, roll the dough out in a rectangle. Spread the softened butter on top. Mix together the sugar, lemon zest and vanilla seeds and sprinkle it all over the dough.
• Roll the dough up tightly
• Cut into 11 pieces and place in a lightly greased baking dish
• Loosely cover the rolls with aluminum foil and allow to rise in a warm  place for 60-90 minutes.
• After the rolls have doubled in size, preheat the oven to 375F. Bake for 25-30 minutes until lightly browned. I covered the rolls with aluminum foil after 15 minutes to avoid heavy browning.

• Frost when warm and serve!

Upma Kozhakattai (Steamed rice and lentil dumplings)

Upma kozhakattai is a standard dish at home and I love it. Served hot with gothsu it is a comfort food of sorts. My husband does not like this dish and so I usually make it when he travels (which is often enough :p). Rice and tuvar dal coarsely ground with spices, shaped into dumplings and steamed, this is a healthy dish which doesn’t use too much oil and is a refreshing alternate to the idli or upma and funnily enough is a combination of the two, preparation wise.

Ingredients:

Raw rice: 1 cup

Tuvar dal/tuvaram parrupu/toor dal : 1/4th cup

Whole black pepper:1-2 tsp

Whole cumin : 1-2 tsp

To temper:

Coconut oil 1 tbsp

Curry leaves 1 sprig

Red chillies pinched to smaller pieces – 3-4

Fenugreek/vendhayam/methi seeds – 1 tsp

Mustard seeds

Salt to taste

2-3 cups water

Method:

• Coarsely grind the rice,parrupu,pepper and cumin and set aside
• In a pan, add the tempering ingredients and once they pop add water and bring it to a rolling boil
• While continuously stirring the water add the ground rice mixture and keep mixing till well combined with no lumps

• Cook this mixture as you would cook upma (until all the water has evaporated and the rice is almost fully cooked)
• Shape into oval shaped dumplings and steam (in an idli steamer) for 15-17 mins

• Serve hot with chutney,gothsu or curd and pickle

Masala Vadai

Nothings reminds us more of home than the taste of snacks form Madras – and today we tried this quintessential Tamil Nadu snack – the Masala vadai. Its s street snack best enjoyed hot and crispy with a nice cup of masala chai or a steaming hot cup of filter coffee!

Ingredients:

1 cup chana dal

1 small onion minced

1 tbsp rava

Handful of curry leaves

Handful of coriander leaves

5 pods of garlic

1 small piece of ginger

2 red chillies

1 tsp fennel seeds

Salt

Oil to fry

Preparation:

Soak chana dal in boiling water (just until dal is covered) for 2 hours

Method:

• Drain water from chana dal and grind to a coarse consistency and set aside

• Grind garlic,ginger,red chillies and fennel seeds
• Mix chana dal mixture,ground masala,coppied onions,rava,curry leaves, coriander leaves and salt and form a dough
• Pat into small patties
• Heat oil and fry vadais

• Serve hot with coconut chutney or with any rice dish or Enjoy as an afternoon snack!

Brownie Granola Bars (no-bake)

This is a fabulous addition to the healthy snack category that I concocted yesterday,again after a bit of research. These Granola bars are healthy,chocolate-y,chewy and full of raw goodness in the form of nuts,dates,honey,peanut butter,oats and a surprise ingredient. The recipes I did come across use rolled oats and I have run out of rolled oats so I instead rinsed and soaked some flattened rice (aval/poha) and added some quick oats and tried this bar. You could use cocoa powder for the chocolate-ness but I added raw cacao which enhanced the healthiness of the bar.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup Flattened rice (aval or poha – rinsed 1-2 times with boiling hot water and set aside)

1/2 cup quick oats

1/2 cup raw cacao

1/2 cup walnuts and pecans mixed

1/2 cup almonds

1/4 cup honey

1/4 cup peanut butter

1 cup pitted dates (soaked in hot water for 15 mins,drained and roughly choped)

a pinch of coarse sea salt

Preparation:

Rinse the flattened rice and set side

Grind walnuts to a fine meal in a food processor/mixie

Add cacao and dates to this mixture and blitz until combined and set aside

Method:

• In a pan heat the honey and peanut butter until combined and smooth and add in the sea salt
• In a mixing bowl add the dates-cacao-walnut mixture along with oats and flattened rice
• Add chopped almonds
• Add the honey peanut butter mixture and knead together with hands until well mixed
• In a baking tin lined with cling wrap spoon the mixture in,cover with cling wrap and flatten with hands to form a log. It is important to press it in tightly with no gaps between pan and mixture
• Freeze or refrigerate for atleast 1-2 hours
• Cut into bars and store in an airtight container

Vegetarian Feijoada – Brazilian Black Bean Stew

I have been meaning to try this stew for a while now, but finally came around to it. The Feijoada is typically a meat and black bean stew of Portuguese origin. I made a vegetarian version after researching a few recipes online. My husband lived and worked in Brazil for a year and raves about Feijoada with farofa all the time. Of course I couldn’t make farofa which is made with Tapioca flour so I served it with rice.

Cooking time: 1 hour (excluding overnight soak)

Serves: 2-3

Ingredients:

1.5 cups black beans (rinsed and soaked overnight in 3 -4 cups water)

2 onions chopped finely

2 tbsp minced garlic

1 small can of chopped tomatoes with the juice

2 carrots chopped finely

2 medium sweet potatoes chopped finely

1 yellow pepper chopped finely

1 cup fresh orange juice

1 tbsp rind of orange

1 tbsp cumin powder

1-2 tsp red chilli powder (as per taste)

1.5 tsp Paprika or Cayenne powder

1 tbsp sour cream

A good pinch of black pepper

Salt to taste

Olive oil – 2-3 tbsp

1 cup water

Garnish options:

Avocado

Guacamole

Sour Cream

Cream

Yoghurt

Preparation:

Toss carrots,sweet potatoes and pepper in 1 tbsp of olive oil and a bit of salt and pepper and roast in an oven at 175C for 20-30 mins turning them once in between

Cooking:

• Cook beans and set aside (cooked until well done but not mushy)
• Heat remaining olive oil in a heavy bottomed pan , add onions and garlic and brown them
• Add tomatoes along with the juice and cook the onion-tomato mixture down until raw smell of tomatoes is gone
• Add cumin,chilli and paprika powders and cook for another 3-5 mins
• Add the roasted vegetables and mix well
• Once vegetables have incorporated into the onion-tomato mixture add the orange juice, orange rind, salt and pepper and allow the mixture to simmer for 5-7 mins
• Add the cooked beans and 1 cup water and allow the mixture to come to a boil
• Check for seasoning and top with sour cream before turning off the stove
• You can serve with above mentioned garnish options or a bowl of rice or both!
• Serve hot!

Note: This stew can be made thick or with a watery gravy as per taste. Also a good thickening method is to take 1-2 serving spoons of the cooked stew and quickly run the stick blender in it and add it back to the stew. 

Carrot Cake

So we moved houses this week and of course I had to test my new oven to see how it works 😉 so I baked a simple,quick and scrumptious carrot cake! My recipe is inspired by Sally’s Baking Addiction again but I halved the recipe and added raisins because my daughter will eat raisins as a meal if I let her, she loves them and I thought it would add a nice pop of sweetness to this otherwise not too sweet cake! The cake is super moist and can be made with in the pantry ingredients.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed 
• 6 tbsp  vegetable oil 
• 3 tbsp greek yogurt 
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• A pinch of ground nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cups  finely grated carrots
• handful of raisins

Preparation:

Pre-heat oven to 175C 

Grease a springform tin with few drops of oil and set aside

Method:

• Combine oil and sugar in a stand mixer or with a hand held mixer
• Add eggs,vanilla,yoghurt and beat at a medium speed till well mixed
• In a separate bowl measure out all remaining dry ingredients – flour,baking soda,cinnamon,nutmeg and salt
• With a spatula fold in the flour into the wet ingredients until just mixed
• Add carrots and raisins and mix into batter. It is better not to overmix
• Spoon into baking tin and bake for 30-35 mins 
• Cool completely and serve!